Fire engine lighter



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'0. w. mos,- FIRB ENGINE LIGHTER.

210 529,024. Patented Nov. 13, 1894.

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I G. W. ENOS. 4 FIRE BNGINEYLIGHTBR';

No. 529,024. Patented Nov. 13, 1894.

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Uni ns STATES ATENT FFEQEQ CHARLES \V. ENOS, OF PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM B. FLANAGAN, OF SAME PLACE.

FIRE-ENGINE LIGHTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 529,024, dated November 13, 1894.

Application filed January 17, 1894:- Serial No. 497,188. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. ENos,a citizen of the United States, residing at Peabody, in the county of Essex and State of Masin broken lines.

sachusetts,have invented a new and Improved Fire-Engine Lighter, of which the following is a specification.

This is a device for lighting the fires in the fire engines as they are started for the scene of a fire from their position in the engine house. The device is intended to stand in the path of the engine as it stands in the engine house, beneath it and in front of the boiler, or in front of the engine itself. As the engine starts to answer an alarm of fire, a lever extending up from the device is struck by the boiler as it moves over the machine, and. the movement of this lever releases a hammer which drops upon a cap thus igniting a fulminate, with the result that the flames shoot quickly up through a chimney or flue into the engine as it passes over it, quickly lighting the fire. Thus the time usually spent in lighting the engine is saved.

The nature of the. invention is fully described below, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device as it stands in position to be struckby the moving fire engine. A portion of the actuating lever is broken out in order to illustrate other parts of the device. A portion of the boiler and a wheel of a fire engine is shown in the proper position relative tothe lighter. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line as, Fig. 2, the position of the lever being shown From this bed extends the upright B provided at its upper end with the horizontal integral Fig. at is an enlarged secguide-plate B havingtwo horizontal perfora- I tionsb longitudinal with the machine. Within these perforations lie and slide two pins or holders 0 whose rear ends 0' are bifurcated to receive the upper ends of trip leversD pivoted at d to the opposite side of the rearward projection B" from the frame or upright B. The upper ends of the trip levers D are vertically slotted, at D to receive the pins 0 extending through them from the bifurcated 6o ends 0' of the holders or rods 0. A shaft E has its bearings in suitable ears or brackets A on the table, and a sleeve F provided with a lip F (Fig. is rigidly secured on the shaft,

and constitutes a trip, the operation of which 6 5 is described below. An actuating lever H is fast on the shaft E and is long enough to extend for quite a distance above the rest of the machine.

I represents a metallic block secured to the table A in any desired manner, preferably by means of a cylindrical base I held in a round well J by means of a set screw J. This block is chambered out to receive a drawer K within whose recess K is placed a quantity of ful- 7 minate. A chimney or stack L is secured in the block I and communicates with the recess in the drawer. Hammers N are pivoted at N to opposite sides of the block and are held normally up under the forward projecting 8o ends of the sliding bolts 0, and are adapted when released, to be forced down upon caps S (Fig. 4) on the nipples R, by the springs P one end of each of which is secured at P to the block and the other end bearing against 8 5 the hammer. Holes it connect the caps with the recess K in the drawer K.

The device is placed in the path of the fire engine, preferably beneath it and in front of the boiler, the position of which is shown at 0 W, Fig. 1. The lever H is in a raised position as shown, and the lip F on the shaft E lies against the lower ends of the trip levers D and supports the lever in such raised position. When the engine starts'it forces the 5 lever 11 forward and down, rotating the shaft E and hence moving the lip F forward. This forces the lower ends of the trip levers D forward and the rear ends back, pulling back the rods or holdingpins O, and releasing the :00

stack L and lights the fire in the engine as it passes over the device on the Way to the supposed conflagration.

In order to prevent the drawer from being blown out, I provide a bifurcated clamp T which can extend up over the edge of the drawer and be held there by the screw or bolt U. A pin or screw T serves as a lower proj ection from the clamp and is equal in length to the distance that the drawer projects from the block I.

It will be seen from the above that in this device the mechanism of the lighter is put into operation automatically, that is, by a simple movement of the engine over the lighter, whereby said engine engages the lever H,and the fire in the engine is lit automatically, there being nothing necessary but the mere passage of the engine over the device.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a fire lighter for fire engines, the frame A B B", the shaft E provided with the fast collar or sleeve F provided with the lip or trip F, the lever I-I fast on said shaft, the levers D, holding pins or rods 0 sliding in the perforations in the guide plate B, and hammers Nand exploding or igniting mechanism, substantially as described.

2. In a fire lighter for fire engines, the frame, block I provided with the drawer K for the fulminate, stack leading up from the said drawer, nipples R and hammers N, trip or releasing mechanism for allowing the hammers to drop, and lever for actuating the releasing mechanism, said lever being of length to be struck by the engine as it passes over it, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES W. ENOS.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. WILLIAMS, J. M. HARTNETT. 

